Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

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Submitted by
finesound
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: November 19, 2010

Bottom Line:

I went for the AC-powered Grado RA-1based on some of the positive reviews on this site. It was Grado's Reference series cartridge that draws me to Grado's headphone amp. I connect the RA-1 direct to my CD player and listened with a Sennheiser 600 headphone. The sound was no better than listening direct from the CD. The RA-a sure amplifies the sound, but not in a fine way. In fact the sound is finer direct from the CD player to the Sennheiser without the RA-1. Who wants volume without fine qualities? The wooden box probably is the best thing of the RA-1. Other than that, the unit is cheaply made. It seems that Grado just put its name on a piece of equipment in order to sell more. For that reason I no longer consider Grado's Reference series cartridge. I lost confidence in Grado products.

This is my first offiicial review at Audioreview.com and please keep that in mind. I felt that a review was at hand for this product since it has been getting so much great press. First, I don't come to bash Grado products (I own RS-1 Headphones and a Gold Prestige cartridge and couldnt be happier), but there is something to be said about the the RA-1. The RS-1 headphoens are astounding in every way possible and I also cannot go on about the price vs. value of nearly all of the Grado phono cartridges, but I find it upsetting that Grado would release the RA-1 and demand the price that they do for it. I have the AC version as I didnt want to constantly be changing batteries and wasnt worried about AC interference, as I have plenty of power filtering available.
I initially hooked up my RA-1 preparing myself to be amazed by the astounding difference they would make on my RS-1's, but no go. They did increase the gain somewhat, but I could simply do that turning up the voulme on my source. I thought that Id give it another shot and do some A/B comparisions with my Pioneer Elite PDR-19RW headphone jack alone (which was the source unit used for the RA-1). The headphone jack without external amplification (the RA-1) actually sounded better. The Grado added some shrillness to the CD's that almost made my RS-1's unlistenable.
I recently bought a tube headphone amp from Opera Audio (a small Chinese company) and the differnece between it and the Grado is astounding. I paid around $350.00 for the Opera amp (tubes and all) and it actually does something to the music. I feel more involved and I feel that the money I spent is actually improving my music, instead of lessing my enjoyment of it. I was hoping that the RA-1 would liven up my music, make it sound 'live,' or put me 'right in the center of the action' like so many of the reviews have stated, but I felt that it did none of these.
After doing some research on the web, it appears that the RA-1 is made up of around $30 worth of internal parts. This really disturbed me seeing how the retail of the unit is $425.00. Mind you, the mahogany is very impressive and the unit matches the RS-1 (and RS-2) perfectly. I think it is beautiful in it's simplicity, but it doesnt really do anything other than increasing the gain a minor amount.
Ill stand behind Grado and most all of their ventures, but I really feel they dropped the ball on this one.
Grado has made some outstanding products (Ill probably never buy another pair of headphones that arent Grado), but I feel that they were playing to the emotions of the RS-1 and RS-2 owners out there to have a mahogany matched 'set' when they released this headphone amp and quickly came up with a sub-par product.
I own a decent amount of high quality 'hi-fi' equipment and the RA-1 just seems like it can't measure up to any of my other components.

Ok, I don't write reviews..much, but here I sit listening to my RA-1 and my RS-1's. I mix it up alot with different sources. High end CD players, Tuners, some not so high end when I travel. But I've got to say this is one GREAT sounding product and I've heard alot of what I and I'm sure you would consider high end equipment. I'll find my self just totally into the music, not even trying to find the perfect system anymore. I've given up on that. I own a $10,000 plus system and perfer to listen to my RA-1/RS-1 combo. I know what I like and I'm considered by my friends to have a good ear, and this is what sounds the best to me.

I usually don't write reviews but I will with the exception that I believe this product is exceptional. Lets start by telling you that I don't have a pair of RS-1's or HD600's...nah, I gots me a cool pair of $95 SR-80's hooked up to a sony dej1000 discman. I have had my headphones for over 2 years now and had them hooked up to a decent sony reciever. The sound was ok but I knew it was limited even though I would never use my SR-80s's without amplification. So anyways I bought the RA-1 and I love it. The reason you are reading this is probably becuase you want to know if you should buy it or not...well, I will try to persuade you. There is no sort of equalizer or tweeking knobs, just a volume but you don't need it, its the way the music was recorded and the way its supposed to sound. Even with my sr80s I can hear the dynamics in the sound...it really changes the way you listen to your music. I listen to all kinds of music but mostly electronic music and I am always constantly paying attention to every little detail in the music and now that I have this amp, I have to listen to all my old cd's again to make sure they were as good or as bad as I previously thought. Don't listen to the idiot that said his amp was messed up because if you buy it from a good site and pay maybe 15 dollars more, they check it before they ship it.

To be fair, i don't own this amplifier, and have only borrowed a friends for about a week, however, i just find this thing dissapointing. The parts in this amplifer costs about 30 dollars, and to some extent, the sound reflects this. It sounds decent enough with grado phones, it helps take off some of the highs, however, given the price of this thing, there are so many better amplifiers out there. Battery operation at this price range is simply unaccecptable. Build yourself one of these amps, and safe yourself the money.